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Posted: 25 Aug 2012 04:41 AM PDT

Daniel John Jambun

This year's slogan for the national day celebration, "Janji ditepati" has courted a lot of controversy not only because it violates the sanctity of the national celebration by converting it into a BN election campaign but also because it is so easy to argue with. It was a mistake on the part of BN to have chosen the slogan because the statement of the slogan itself invites criticisms and arguments. BN has forgotten that the national celebration is for all Malaysians regardless of party affiliation, so BN is really making an outrageous blunder, or showing plain arrogance, by making even the national celebration its own celebration.

By doing so, BN has alienated the rakyat who are in the opposition. Now there is no reason for the opposition to celebrate the national day together because it has become "BN's Day"! There is no reason for people in the opposition to be patriotic with the national day because to celebrate it means to support BN! BN has forgotten that its duty is to celebrate the national day on behalf of ALL the people. The national day belongs to the people NOT to BN! No wonder the number of flags being put up on shops, offices, houses and vehicles have suddenly dwindled to ALMOST ZERO compared to previous years. Now even the Jalur Gemilang has a strong tinge of BN's arrogance so much so that many people no longer feel any patriotic feeling when they see flapping in the wind.

Is BN so desperate or so frightened of losing the next general election that it is using everything and anything it can get its hands on, even the people's patriotic heritage to glorify itself? Or is it so overconfident or simply super-arrogant that it thinks that it will gain a lot of political mileage by making it a part of the BN propaganda? Apparently that is the case, and because of this the whole meaning of patriotism has been hijacked and damaged. From the BN's viewpoint patriotism means supporting the BN while from the viewpoint of the opposition patriotism means saving the nation from the abuses of the BN! So now it is meaningless for the BN to appeal to the people's sense of patriotism because when the Prime Minister or any top BN leader talks about patriotism they know it means only one thing, "Come and support the BN" and "Supporting the opposition means destroying the country." So, in a way, being patriotic in Malaysia nowadays is to come in cahoots with robbers!

But back to the problem of "Janji Ditepati." If we were to list and discuss all the issues which prove that this is not an honest statement, it would fill up several books. But here is a sampling of only a few cases.

One, the security for Sabah in Malaysia. When Sabah was considering whether to join the formation of Malaysia, the rational bandied about for doing so was the supposed threat from the Philippines which had been claiming Sabah and the threat by Sukarno's konfrontasi to "Ganyang Malaysia" before the cockerel crows on the dawn of September 16, 1963, that without Malaysia, Sabah would be invaded and colonized by Indonesia. But strangely history had shown that these threats didn't go far as proven by the fact that Brunei not only survived but prospered. And when we became part of the federation we didn't really get the security that we were promised. Very ironically it were the Filipinos and Indonesians who actually invaded Sabah, not as military forces, but as illegal immigrants, and all the security forces of Malaysia – the army, the border police, the immigration officials – couldn't or wouldn't stop them! Where was the promise to guarantee us security?

Two, the promise not to 'colonization' of Sabah. Donald Stephens biggest worry was that Sabah would escape from the clutches of British colonialization and fall into being a colony of Malaya. The Tunku then made a promise that Sabah and Sarawak would not become the 12th and 13^th states of Malaya. But this is what had happened. We are now unitary states instead of being independent, equal-partner nations in the federation as was originally understood. The promise not to colonize Sabah was flagrantly broken.

Three, there is no compliance by the federal government on the five constitutional documents and/or constitutional conventions (the Federal Constitution, the Malaysia Agreement, the 20 Points, the IGC Report, and the Batu Oath Stone) which formed the basis for Sabah & Sarawak's equal partnership as nations in Malaysia.

Four, why wasn't there a proper constitution drafted and passed? What we have is actually the constitution of the federation of Malaya amended to become what is now the "Federal Constitution" which is the real reason why it is not called the "Malaysian Constitution." When they came up with the decision to use the Malayan constitution as a basis for the constitution we have now, there was already a hidden agenda. We were played out from even before the start of Malaysia.

Five, the rights and autonomy for Sabah. The 20 Points has many points which promised certain rights and autonomy for Sabah. These have now been taken away, eroded or simply denied, often without any proper legal process. That is why we no longer have freedom not to have any official religion, right to arrange our own education system, to determine our own immigration rules and to retain the collection of our own taxes and use it in accordance to our own economic plans. The 20 Points in fact is a list of not only broken promises but a list of rights and autonomy which were then taken away unceremoniously.

Six, we were not consulted before the decision was made to expel Singapore from Malaysia. This means Malaya thought that the views of Sabah and Sarawak as components of the federation were immaterial and irrelevant in matters of such a critical and vital decision as expelling a partner. This was simple arrogance, a condescending attitude, taking us for granted because our leaders in Sabah were seen as people who could be forced to accept Malaya's decision. Only one leader, Donald Stephens, demanded for a review of the Malaysia Agreement and to silence him he was sent or "ice-boxed" to Australia as Malaysia's ambassador.

Seven, the Sabah Baru promise. When BN took over the state government in Sabah in 1994, there was a huge announcement of a promise to create "Sabah Baru" (a New Sabah) within 100 days. Now after 18 years we do have a 'new Sabah' – a Sabah depleted of its natural forests which had caused the death of ecosystems and many rivers, a Sabah mired in poverty and abject poverty with 40 percent of Malaysia's poor, a Sabah which is the poorest in Malaysia. BN had promised a dream but delivered a nightmare!

And the situation is not improving. In fact things are getting worse. The state continues to be flooded with illegal immigrants, and the solution is not forthcoming because the recently-announced RCI is not expected to solve it largely because it has no provision to penalize those culprits behind the problem, and that obviously it was announced only as an election ploy.

Janji ditepati? You be the judge.

Profiteering in Malaysia’s discount card era.

Posted: 23 Aug 2012 10:03 PM PDT

Businessmen who for years have refused to budge, refused to bring down prices even when threatened by government, today are willingly signing up as outlets subscribing to giving discounts under a government program, businessmen smiling posing next to the Prime Minister or next to structures with 1Malaysia slogans.

Stephen Doss

Every time the costs of petrol were to go up in Malaysia, there would be a corresponding if not higher increase of everyday goods, most notably food stuff. A 10 cent increase in petrol would see a 10 to 20 cent increase in roti canai and teh tarik, likewise the same with many of our favorite food. That's the way it has always been, prices which have gone up have never come down, ever since the price of oil was floated, prices of petrol have fluctuated up and down but not the price of food which just like everything else have remained up.

Businessmen find the flimsiest of excuses to increase prices, sometimes even beyond comprehension. The same businessman who increases the price of roti canai 10 cents when the price of petrol goes up 10 cents will not bring down the price of roti canai 10 cents when the price of petrol goes down 20 cents. That's just the nature of the businessman whose sole reason for being in business is to make as much money as possible in the shortest time possible.

Businessmen have also raised prices at the beginning of a cultural or religious festival - whether during Chinese New Year or during Hari Raya, prices seem to always go up every year.

So used are we Malaysians to their oft used tactics that we have became immune. It's as if it is almost expected, and we are relieved when the prices go up by a small percentage instead of the usual increase. And we rarely complain. Selfish businessmen are just doing what comes naturally to them, we just cannot expect them to go against their nature, just as we cannot expect a leopard to change its spots just because it is not hungry.

So how is it that suddenly the Prime Minister seems to be able to get them to give discounts when consumers presented with government issued discount cards come a calling. The government has announced to great fanfare and issued discount cards to students, uniformed agencies, civil servants, the under privileged and pensioners. The way things are going, soon every Malaysian will be carrying a discount card.

What gives?

We can only pray that they are not resorting to one of two strategies;

One, these businessmen are reducing the portion of their products, in order to subscribe as outlets that offer these discounts, they reduce the portions for every consumer, those with discounts and those who may be paying the normal fare. So not only do the rest of us who do not have discount cards not enjoy these discounts we now get less than before for the same price. Those who do get a discount with their discount cards may pay less, but they get less too. Of course they can't complain.

The second strategy is even worse; they may raise the prices of products before giving a discount, which takes us back to square one, that's for those who have discount cards. For those of us who do not have discount cards, well enjoy your new inflated prices for the same portion.

All these may just be conjecture on my part, these businessmen after years of making sinful profits may just have decided to turn over a new leaf and finally decided it is time to become good citizens.

I may be wrong, I doubt it.

But if I were in government, especially post the next general election, I would want to keep a close eye on these outlets who have subscribed to offering lower prices to ensure that everything is above board.

Stephen Doss is a social activist and political observer. He is currently the President of the International Social Media Chambers. He can be found on twitter @stephendoss

Why Malayans look down on Sabah

Posted: 20 Aug 2012 04:03 PM PDT

Daniel John Jambun

The recent report made by Rozza Rothman against people from the Peninsula insulting Sabah in Facebook postings reminds us again of the long and unceasing attitude of Malayans looking down on Sabah and Sabahans.

This is due mainly to the misconception created by the failure of the efforts of national integration and national unity made under the National Unity and Integration Department (NUID) which has been operating since 1969 (after the May 13 riots), spending hundreds of millions of ringgits trying to Malaysians in the Peninsula and those in Borneo. The Malaysian blog reported in July 2006 that "Probably 99% of Malaysians have not even heard of the very existence of the national unity and integration department. Ironically, as its name suggests, it is the one entrusted to 'integrate' and 'unite' the people and therefore should have been very familiar to the public!" the writer even commented, ""What the devil have you been doing all these years except collect your monthly pay?" The biggest problem with the NUID is plain ineptness, lack of creativy and drive, as well as the over-dominance of Peninsular officers who have the attitude that in the whole process, it is the Borneons that need to be rehabilitated from the wild, to be civilized so they can be on par with the more civilized Malayans. There is less thought about rehabilitating the Peninsular Malaysians into learning about Borneo which to them is unimportant and not even part of the real Malaysia.

Ever since the beginning people in the Peninsula had always looked upon Sabah and Sarawak as the nation's wild side, areas covered with trees occupied by monkeys, pythons, crocodiles and even wild men living on treetops. The Facebook insults reported by Rozza included comments saying Sabahans still live on trees. In the past Peninsular teachers coming to teach in Sabah used to shop for Panadols and toothpastes in large amounts in their hometowns before they boarded the planes to Kota Kinabalu because they believed those items can't be found here. In one TV live interview Datuk Dr. Maximus Ongkili was called by a girl from Penang who asked what monetary currency was used in Sabah. Sabahans coming to KL are asked, "Bila sampai Malaysia?" or worse, "When is Sabah going to join Malaysia?" I have friends who had been asked to please go ahead and enjoy the fish-head curry because "You people don't have this in Sabah". The list of blatant ignorance runs long and wide, proving how ignorant people are in the Peninsula. Even in the age of the Internet when surfers can easily see tens of thousands of pictures of Sabah online, they still really, really believe we live on trees.

Other the 43-year failure of the NUID, this intolerable ignorance is also caused by the timidity and cowardice of our Members of Parliament who act like wet mice in Kuala Lumpur, bowing and smiling to the Malayans as if to admit they are actually less civilized. They allow themselves to be looked down upon to curry favours. They forget that one of their duties as the representatives of Sabahans is to educate the ignorant people of the Peninsular that Sabah is a beautiful and a more peaceful place where Peninsular teachers and civil servants come to get married and settle down because of the beauty of the state.

They need to shout in parliament every now and then to remind the people there that they owe Sabah and Sarawak for the wealth and prosperity being enjoyed by them. The fine highways, airports and buildings (including the Petronas Towers) are there because of oil from the Borneo states! This is so ironic because Sabah, the producer of this precious black gold is mired in poverty, having terribly bad roads while they have four-lane highways even to gambling haven, Genting Highlands. Our MPs need to shout in Parliament, "Jangan lupa orang Sabah yang kasi makan kamu!" to shame them into recognising our contribution to their prosperity there which is like 20 years ahead of us.

I urge the police to take serious action on Rozza's report and inform us of their progress. Soon, someone need to make a police report on the gigantic failure of the NUD, even to sue it, or at least to audit its performance and penalize it for decades of failure to unite Malaysians. It needs to explain why Malaysians today are more polarized than ever before and why it is not taking any action against those causing racial and religious disunity, especially people like Ibrahim Ali who is record for threatening to kill Christians and calling for a ban on Christians from teaching in schools. If they can't do the job the NUID should be closed down to save precious money.

Kredit: www.malaysia-today.net

Isnin, 27 Ogos 2012

Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News

Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News

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